The Army's efforts to integrate some type of augmented reality at the soldier level have been around since the late 1990s, that is to give the soldier a "heads up" display inside a set of goggles that can help them navigate, identify enemy, and basically help them do their job more efficiently. Like vertical take-off and landing, or the M16 rifle, this effort has been plagued by setbacks.
The latest iteration is called IVAS, or Integrated Visual Augmentation System, which consists of goggles (previously using the now defunct HoloLens), a sensor package, and a battery pack. According to the head of Army acquisitions of this years Association of the United States Army conference, they are currently working on an updated version of the IVAS that is going to include a number of improvements.
Since Microsoft acquired the IVAS contract in 2018, numerous issues have come up during field testing with some soldiers experiencing nausea while wearing it. The new version of the system is said to include a "flip up" version, increased reliability, and better viewing clarity. According to Army acquisition chief Doug Bush, it is also going to cost a lot less than previous versions.
The goal is the get the price tag of each individual IVAS unit to be, "substantially less than $80,000," Bush said at AUSA this year. If the IVAS passes more field testing next year, the Army could potentially be buying over 120,000 of them, with the contract being worth up to 22 billion dollars for Microsoft.
All of that is up in the air though if the IVAS can't meet the Army's requirements although Bush said that the system will be, "much better than the first time around," and that many of the issued that came up in previous field tests have now been addressed.